LSU frat suspended during investigation

BATON ROUGE - LSU officials said Tuesday they're investigating possible misconduct by the school's Acacia fraternity, which is on interim suspension for the moment.

LSU spokesperson Ernie Ballard did not go into specifics, saying the university was working with the Acacia national office, the alumni and chapter leadership to investigate. He also said the fraternity was suspended from activities during the investigation.

News 2 spoke with members of Acacia who say the university has been looking into their organization for about a month.

Reports surfaced on local social media Monday night that the fraternity had been kicked off campus for hazing allegations. The fraternity would not confirm or deny whether the claims were true.

"We have no comment on that right now it's still an ongoing investigation with LSU," said one active member who wishes to remain anonymous. "We all love Acacia and we've been on campus for 60 years without getting kicked off."

Ballard said the school has due process guidelines which are followed in these sorts of investigations, which includes a preliminary investigation followed by filing of formal charges if any evidence is found to support the allegations. After that a hearing is held before a judicial panel, unless the accused organization's spokesperson waives the group's rights to a hearing.

The Acacia fraternity was originally founded for members who had Masonic ties, but those restrictions were later removed. The LSU chapter was founded in 1956, and in 2003 a sophomore died after falling from the roof of the chapter house.